Columbia Sportswear v. Seirus Innovative Accessories was the first design patent case to go to trial since the Supreme Court ruled on Samsung v. Apple, in which the Supreme Court ruled that when an infringing product has multiple parts, design patent owners aren't always entitled to the total profits from the product sold to consumers. However, in Columbia v. Seirus, Columbia was awarded over $3 million, which reflects the total profit Seirus earned from the sale of the infringing products. The judge in the case decided to adopt a test proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in an amicus brief in Samsun v. Apple. This win for Columbia has provided hope to patent owners. Law360 contacted Finnegan partner Beth Ferrill for her thoughts on the case.
Ferrill said the DOJ factors will be important going forward, but noted that during arguments in Samsung v. Apple, the DOJ acknowledged that it didn't have a chance to elaborate more on the factors in its briefs. She said, "It's not completely clear what the DOJ might have been going after in some of the factors. I think they are open to interpretation." She added, "I think we may at least get some clarity on those factors, even if something else happens in a different case."
